Ben Edwards corruption abused the public trust: An editorial

Benjamin Edwards held positions of trust as pastor of a 9th Ward church and member of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, but he used them not to serve others but to enrich himself and his brother.

TED JACKSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEFormer New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board member Ben Edwards.Mr. Edwards, who pleaded guilty in federal court last week to a single count of wire fraud and a single count of tax evasion, had served on the Sewerage & Water Board for 20 years, longer than any other current member. But he shook down companies that received lucrative contracts from the board, demanding that they provide donations and scholarships, ostensibly for Third Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. He and his brother, Bruce Edwards, were the real recipients, pocketing millions.

As part of his plea agreement, Mr. Edwards admitted that he took money from the church's account to buy vehicles and purchase personal items for himself and his brother and to fund political campaigns. He used the church's nonprofit status as a way to avoid paying taxes on ill-gotten money.

He also urged Montgomery Watson Harza, one of the contractors he shook down for donations, to hire a subcontractor called Management Construction Consultant Inspection that purported to be a certified disadvantaged business enterprise. But the company was secretly controlled by Bruce Edwards.

"This case is illustrative, sadly, of how individuals who are here to serve the public, through public institutions...harm not only citizens but members of churches and real disadvantaged business enterprises in order to enrich themselves,'' U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said.

Indeed, it's disturbing that Mr. Edwards was able to get away with his corruption for so long. In the statement of facts that he signed as part of the plea agreement, Mr. Edwards admitted that he had been hitting up MWH for "donations'' for more than a decade. That company had done work for the Sewerage & Water Board since 1996 and earned as much as $10 million a year.

Mr. Edwards had faced a 33-count federal indictment that included conspiracy, money laundering and extortion charges. The maximum sentence for those charges was 400 years. His plea agreement means that the most that he can be sentenced to is 20 years for wire fraud and five for tax evasion.

But his punishment isn't the end of the story. The New Orleans inspector general, Ed Quatrevaux, is reviewing the city's $37 million in contracts with the company now called MWH America's Inc., which had paid money to Mr. Edwards. While none of the city's contracts were involved in this case, the inspector general is prudent to look them over.

As offensive as Mr. Edwards' violation of the public trust is, companies that are willing to knuckle under are a part of the corruption equation and warrant scrutiny.